Top 25 landmarks for travelers, and the Bay Area connection

July 18, 2015

Alcatraz, known as The Rock, was a maximum security prison considered inescapable

One of the chief destinations for leisure and adventure travelers are the world’s great landmarks. This truism is not lost on TripAdvisor, one of the Internet’s premier travel websites, with nearly 40 million unique visitors per month.

TripAdvisor recently asked its vast audience to rank the world’s 25 top landmarks. It may come as no surprise that two of the top 25 are right here in the San Francisco Bay area, within easy striking distance of The Rose Hotel.

Ranked number eight is the decommissioned island prison of Alcatraz, former holding place for America’s most dangerous and notorious criminals, including Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly and Mickey Cohen.

Ranked number 10 is the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, one of the great engineering feats of its time, and one of the most photographed structures of any kind in the world.

If you have never gone on an Alcatraz tour or traversed the Golden Gate Bridge on foot, bicycle or automobile, we invite you to immediately make reservations at The Rose Hotel by clicking here or calling 925-846-8802.

Alcatraz tours are so popular that it’s important to make reservations in advance by clicking here.

For tour information and tickets to the Golden Gate Bridge, click here.

Let us offer you a bit of information about both of these incredible landmarks.

Alcatraz, known as The Rock by its former inmates and prison guards, has been around for almost 150 years and has given chills to the innocent and cold sweats to the guilty. Having once been a maximum-security penitentiary, Alcatraz is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Though it was considered escape-proof, in 1962 the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris infamously floated away on a makeshift raft and were never seen again. The guided audio tour of Alcatraz has the voices of the actual prisoners incarcerated there, and the prison guards who secured the facility, giving the experience an authenticity and insight rarely found on tours of historic places.

The Golden Gate Bridge, opened in 1937, is without question, a world tourism icon. So, where do you go for the best views? Some believe Alfred Hitchcock had it right when he said that seen from below at Fort Point, the bridge induces a thrilling case of vertigo. Others prefer the lookout at Vista Point in Marin, on the north side of the bridge. For a look at stunning vistas and a bucket-list experience, take a walk or bicycle ride across the bridge itself.

We hope you will come visit both Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge soon and honor us with your patronage. If you are interested, or just curious, click here to see the complete top 25 list of the world’s top travel landmarks as published by TripAdvisor.